Hasbro Q&A/May 2010

A question archive of, and links to the answers from, the May 2010 Hasbro Q&As, released on June 10th or shortly thereafter.

Questions

Can you share any information about the future of the Transformers: Generations line? Just what exactly is it set to include? Could things like the unreleased Animated figures such as Blackout, Wingblade Prime, Hydrodive Bumblebee, Wasp or Vortex Blurr be included? What about U.S. versions of Henkei Thundercracker, and Dirge (Since we have already heard of a Red Alert)?
A while back you told us in several Q&A answers that Hasbro had the story of Primus' Original Thirteen Transformers all planned out (giving us hints like "only 7 of the 13 were named Primes," and "one of the 13 was an important female warrior.") We were told to stand-by to learn more about this mysterious legendary era of Cybertron soon. It's very exciting to hear there's a plan for this mysterious and important piece of Transformer "history," would you be able to give us any hints now on where (what format) and when you plan on telling this epic story?

For about five years, over the course of the Unicron Trilogy, it seemed like Hasbro was taking a relatively passive role when it came to the creation of tie-in media, or at least willing to let other companies like Takara (now Tomy) write the cartoon and then Hasbro would adapt it for the North American audiences. Then, during the creation of the Movie franchise and Transformers: Animated, Hasbro has been taking a very active, prominent role in the creation of tie-in media. Over the past decade, what are the most important lessons you think you’ve learned about storytelling, brand development, and working with creative partners, and how has that influenced the direction you’re driving the brand today?
At various points, licensees like Marvel Comics and some of the Japanese-market publications have held “Create a Transformer” contests. Does Hasbro/Tomy own the rights to characters generated in such contests, and if so, could we ever see, say, Sunbender or Star Upper again?

Will we see anymore G1 characters besides Thrust, such as Thundercracker, Dirge, or a new Jazz, Wheeljack, or Reflector?
Will we see the Human Alliance line continue to give us Mudflap, Ratchet, Ironhide, or even some other larger Decepticons?

Why are toys like ROTF Leader Jetfire or HFTD Leader Starscream not using the voice they had in the movie?
What is the Canadian distribution system like for Transformers? Where do figures arrive in Canada? Where do they go from there? How do they get to stores? Is the system the same for other lines?

Fans were treated to a huge surprise at BotCon 2009 when they got to see not one but two G1 Unicrons on display. This was an item that many kids from the 80s dreamed of owning and as adults they still do. What can you tell us about the original G1 Unicron toy that was on display at BotCon 2009? How many of them are there? Any chance we'll ever see the G1 Unicron or G1 Arcee made?
We haven't heard much regarding the point of the Transformers Hall of Fame and how it will move forward beyond this initial year and induction at Botcon. Will future inductions be held in similar fashion of company picks and fan picks or will it be more fan controlled? And what is the greater point for the Hall, seeing it should be tied to greater media exposure. Is this all just publicity for ramping up excitement within the fan community, without actively having a pay-off beyond the possibility of backing the winning candidate for the 5th spot? Could this possibly be used for a "Transformers Hall-of-Fame" subline of the upcoming Generations toyline?

After 26 years, why has the inclusion of a robot, alt, and limb suddenly become too hard to make even in lieu of rising prices? Does Hasbro see combiners returning to actual Transformers after Power Core combiners? Or are drones a new kind of playability for the foreseeable future?
What was the reason behind making the Generations line strictly Deluxe?

According to a series of TakaraTomy-authorized illustrated text stories that ran in the Japanese "Figure King" magazine, there is an Ancient Transformer named "Logos Prime" who possesses extraordinary power over space and time. Within these stories, Vector Prime appears and recognizes Logos Prime as one of his kindred, despite Logos Prime being in the form of the "Galaxy Force" Soundblaster figure. Moreover, the silhouetted image of the Thirteen original Transformers produced for TakaraTomy's World of Transformers web site (written by Hirofumi Ichikawa, author of the text stories that ran in "Figure King") includes a shadowed figure resembling Soundblaster/Logos Prime. Thus: is Logos Prime as one of the Thirteen Original Transformers?
The July 2003 issue of the magazine NewType USA contained an article on the then-upcoming Armada series, and featured an interview with the Japanese director of Armada, one Hidehito Ueda. According to the preamble of the interview, and we quote: "In the beginning, Transformers Armada was planned as a sequel to The Rebirth, the last three-part Transformers episode shown in America featuring the Autobots and Decepticons, but later, partially because of Hasbro, it was produced as a completely new series." Is this statement true? Was Armada originally conceived as a follow-up to the original Transformers cartoon?